


You promised to never let go

by UpInOrbit



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Greek gods inspiration, Hades and Persephone, M/M, more or less
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 17:23:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16499585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpInOrbit/pseuds/UpInOrbit
Summary: And that’s how they met. The dark king and a mortal prince. Different lives, two worlds that were always meant to stay apart.The king thought that was it. That was his happy ending.But happy endings were stories that hadn’t ended. He had lived long enough to know that.Or an Hades and Persephone inspired work.





	You promised to never let go

**Author's Note:**

> And here I come back with another NCT fic! The inspiration for this one was weird, tbh but I hope you like it. It might get a little confusing but I hope it can be understood. The title comes from [Tightrope](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He5NctQPXK8) from The greatest showman.  
> It's unbeat'ed and English is not my first language, plus I've tried a new style (?) so I apologise for any possible mistakes.  
> I hope you enjoy it!

Once upon a time, there was a boy. He didn’t think there was anything remarkable about him, but he was born in the royal family, and for that, he was special. That, had made him a prince. He grew, shaped into a weapon, someone who’d start wars and crush his enemies, a ruler with no mercy. But he had a tender heart, and princes were not meant to have a heart, much less a soft one. And so he was pushed aside, hidden from the view, his younger brother raised to become the ruler others wanted.

He didn’t care. Neither did his heart hold such ambitions, nor did he resent his brother for taking his place. He had not been made to hate, but to love. And no matter how hard life would turn, no matter how badly he was treated, the smile on his face wouldn’t leave.

His castle was by the sea, on top of a cliff. Sometimes, he would go out, and walk to its edge, the sea breeze spraying his face. He’d stay there until the Sun set, just up to the moment when the cold would start to settle in his bones, and then he’d go back, the moonlight guiding his steps.

It was on one of those night that they met. The prince turned around and he saw him, standing beneath one of the trees, his face turned up towards the sky, oblivious to the fact that he was no longer alone. There was a faint sheen on his cheeks, like he had been crying, but when he turned his head, his eyes were empty and cold.

They stayed there, staring at each other, none of them moving, until the stranger turned his head back to the sky. The prince knew he ought to do something, but there he stayed, studying the other, the way the darkness seemed to cling onto him, like it seeped from his very being. He was one with the shadows, his face and neck alabaster under the faint light.

He was beautiful. Ethereal in a way the prince had never seen before. There was something magical about him, something that set him apart from every other person he had ever seen. And then it hit him. His breath hitched as he struggled to go down on his knees, the title slipping through his parted lips.

“Your Majesty”, he breathed, his eyes casted down.

Just as his knees touched the ground, slender hands grabbed his arms, forcing him to stay standing. Surprised, the prince looked up, confusion etched on his face. The stranger’s eyes softened at his expression, and he left his hands fall down the other’s arms, until they rested by his side once again.

“Do not kneel before me” his voice was deep, more so than what the prince had expected, mislead by the delicate appearance of the stranger.

A stranger, and yet someone everyone knew. Standing before him, was the terror of every children around the kingdom, the one whose sole mention was enough to make even the bravest of men tremble in fear, none other than the king of the dead itself.

“My lord, Hades” he mumbled, bowing his head in deference.

There was a chuckle, devoid of all amusement, and the prince stared once more at the god.

“That is the name you’ve given me, yes”.

He didn’t say anything more, his eyes fixed on the sky once again, and the prince didn’t know what to do. Was he supposed to go, and ignore the god? Would turning his back to the god disrespectful? Was he supposed to stay until the god deemed it appropriate?

Hades paid him no mind, and the prince decided it would probably best to leave the god to his own thoughts, except that his still looked sad, and he couldn’t just leave like that. Sadness didn’t belong to that face. He wanted to see a smile on his lips, his eyes light up as he laughed, but even he, a mere mortal, knew it was rather pointless. It wasn’t like he’d be able to make Hades, a god, laugh. He didn’t really think there was much the god of death found amusing. Still, he stayed rooted to the place.

“You look… Sad”, he started, dubious. The god flicked his eyes at him for a moment. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“I… Appreciate the thought, but I doubt anything you can do will help me”.

The prince nodded. Maybe that was his cue to leave. Maybe that was the god’s way of telling him to go away, and leave him alone, but his heart still ached for the king beside him, one that looked far too sad and alone.

He didn’t say anything else, but he stayed. He chose a tree to the left of Hades, and stayed there, offering him his company, for whatever if was worth. When the night was the darkest, and he could barely feel his fingers, when the only thing he could see was the god’s face, as it slowly disappeared into the shadows, and the prince could tell he was about to leave, he spoke:

“You are always welcome here, if you wish to come” he could feel the weight of the stare on him, but he continued. “I am sure there are many places where you could go, but if you ever desire to go somewhere else, you will always be welcomed here”.

He looked at the god as he finished, to make sure he knew there was nothing but honesty in his words, and he left. He could feel the god’s eyes lingering on him until the trees hid him from the view, and he could finally breath. He had meant every single word he had said on the cliff, but he didn’t know if the god would ever return.

He didn’t have to wait much, though. Just the following night, he found the god at the same place he had been when he first saw him, just a little earlier, just a little happier.

And that’s how they met. The dark king and a mortal prince. Different lives, two worlds that were always meant to stay apart. Silent nights turned into timid talks turned into vivid conversations, about everything and anything.

A strange friendship grew between them, one that blossomed in the shadows of the night, under the pale moonlight. Sometimes, Hades would take the prince away from his castle, determined to show him the wonders of the Earth, those the prince would never be able to see. And it was the prince the one who lent the god a shoulder to lean on, being his friend when it was most needed, and he slowly changed the way in which Hades saw the world, with his pure heart and his smile full of light.

And somewhere along the way, what had started as an unlikely friendship, turned into an unlikely love, one that ran deep and true. There was a kiss under the moon and stars, and promises of love under the Sun. The god gifted the prince with his real name, telling him it was his to keep. He brought the prince to the underworld, showing him his dark kingdom, the wonders and horrors that could be found there, hoping, wishing, that their love would be strong enough, that his prince wouldn’t run away from him. And he didn’t. 

The king thought that was it. That was his happy ending.

But happy endings were stories that hadn’t ended. He had lived long enough to know that. And when he saw the father and brother of his prince down there, in his own kingdom, he knew _that_ was the true ending to their story.

His prince would be a king. A great one, of that he was certain. But gods and mortals were never meant to fall in love. Theirs was a story that was doomed from the beginning. No one would ever take the death god lover’s as a king. His prince, his love, his live, would be hated, hunted, maybe even killed, and he wouldn’t be able to stop it, for he knew the consequences that would come from his intervention.

And so he stayed away. He had promised his love the Sun and Moon, the stars and what lay beyond, but that was a promise to be fulfilled on another lifetime. The king closed his eyes and turned his back away from the mortal’s world, vowing not to set foot on it until his prince had ceased to be.

 

The abrupt ending brought the man back to reality. The words had painted him a dream, a picture that developed just in front of his eyes, and when it came to an end, so did his reverie.

“Is that it?” he asked, eager to know more, desperate for a happy ending.

The narrator that sat in front of him smiled , gently.

“What more could there be to the story?”

“What happened to the prince? What happened after his death? Did they ever met again?”

The narrator’s eyes glazed over, lost in his story.

“The prince became a king. A great one. He brought peace to his kingdom and was loved by everyone. But his heart had belonged to his dark king, and he never married, never taking a lover, not even looking at another man so when he died, his kingdom passed to his younger brother, one that was born after their father had died. As for what happened after he died, he went to his lover’s kingdom, where they reunited, and he was offered a choice: to stay there forever, or to be reborn, all traces of his past life, forgotten”.

“What did he choose?”

He received no answer. Instead, the man in front of him asked.

“Was it good?”

Blinking, he looked down, noticing for the first time the cup he was holding. He looked around us, at the two rivers the surrounded them as they were sat on the floor, the grass beneath them soft. They were bathed in bright sunlight, but the Sun was nowhere to be seen. How strange it was that he didn’t remember how he had gotten there. Not even his name he could remember. 

A low hum reminded him of the question, and so he pushed his thoughts aside for the time being.

“It was nice, I think” the narrator nodded in response.

“Why are you so sad?” he asked, his voice soothing, and a bit worried. The man furrowed his brows.

“I am not sad”.

The narrator smiled again, except that time, the smile was laced with sorrow, one so deep he must have been feeling it for years.

“Then why are you crying?” he whispered, caressing his face with a slender finger.

The man brought his hand up to touch his cheek, finding it wet with tears. He didn’t remember when he started to cry. Startled, he realised he had yet to stop.

“I don’t know” he answered, in a chocked voice.

“I’m sorry, my love” his voice, so soft it was almost too low to hear. “Drink this” he handed him a cup, filled with a clear liquid. Water. “Drink and I promise everything will make sense”.

The man knew he shouldn’t just drink something handed to him by a stranger, no matter how interesting or attractive that stranger might be. But there was something in his bones, in his heart, that trusted blindly the man sat in front of him, and so he drank the contents of the cup, regardless of its origin.

There was flash of images, too many of them and too fast for him to make sense of them, but it wasn’t needed. It felt more like getting reacquainted with a friend, rather than meeting a large group of strangers at the same time.

When he opened his eyes, he knew where he was. He knew where he was. And he knew who was seated in front of him.

“Hello, Yuta, my love” there was a wobbly smile and tear-filled-eyes on the other man’s face. Yuta’s heart filled with love, the same one that had never left.

“Sicheng” it was a name and it was a promise and a prayer, all at once. For a long time it had been the first thing he thought of when he woke up and his last thought before falling a sleep, the name that gave him force, that supported him through the darkest of times. And finally, after a lifetime of waiting, he could once more say it to the man to whom it belonged.

Yuta wasted no more time in words, crossing the distance between them, crushing their lips together, his fingers tangled in Sicheng’s hair. There was no space between them, Sicheng holding him in a bone-crushing embrace, but they didn’t mind. Not when they had waited to long for that moment. Not after years and longing and sadness and despair, all needed to get to that point.

“You promised to never let go” Yuta whispered, when they pulled apart.

Sicheng caressed his face, nothing but adoration in his eyes.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise, but I came back to you as soon as I could”.

“I know” was the love-filled answer.

Yuta pressed their brows together, not wanting to get away from the god.

“You still have to make a choice” Sicheng said. 

“No, I don’t. The decision was long been made” he kissed Sicheng’s nose. “You’ve always been my answer”.

**Author's Note:**

> And this is it. I came up with the idea as I watched Alien (totally unrelated, I know, I don't understand how my brain works). I hope you've enjoyed it, and I really hope it wasn't too confusing. If you have any questions, hit me up! Thank you so much for reading it!!
> 
> [tw](https://twitter.com/monstaruniverse) || [cc](https://curiouscat.me/Val_99)
> 
> \- Val


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